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Original poster

It is really feasible to do 4 "hard" A levels?

289 replies

Kazzyhoward · 03/08/2017 11:35

DS is forecast grades 8 and 9 in his GCSEs across the board. He is wanting to take all 3 sciences and Maths at A level. These are the subjects he enjoys. At this stage (argh!), he has no clue about what career he wants to go into! School/teachers seem happy enough to let him do them with the usual warnings of them being hard subjects etc. Just wondering if any parents/teachers have experience of kids doing these 4 A levels and whether it's realistically feasible to get decent passes. My personal view is to run for the hills and choose just 3 A levels of a different mix, maybe one science, Maths, and a humanity or economics/business studies, but perhaps that would do him a great dis-service. Very difficult when he hasn't a clue about career nor what degree subject he'll take at uni.

OP posts:
TeenAndTween · 05/08/2017 09:24

Did any of you read the thread in May with the MN kid who was going to do AS maths with no lessons and 1 week's study per exam? Everyone (including @noblegiraffe ) scoffed. Then he did mocks 48hrs before each exam and got astoundingly good marks. I'm waiting on tenterhooks to see how he faired in the real thing...

Crumbs1 · 05/08/2017 09:27

It depends on the child and how they adapt to advanced study.
Mine all did six A levels or equivalent apart from one son who always focused on what he needed to get where he wanted and no more. He only did four.
Daughter one did A level theology in year 11, then three sciences and Latin in sixth form with critical thinking and an extended essay as part of the AQA baccalaureate which counted as an extra A level.
Son just did Physics, Maths, Drama, English to A level plus RADA exams.
Then third did Sciences, Maths and Further Maths with theology in year 11.
After that they moved to IB so took six subjects anyway. Youngest did IB plus dance A level and vocational dance exams.
Twins did IB but added in A level drama plus RADA exams.

Crumbs1 · 05/08/2017 09:29

So it's feasible and good for some to be intellectually stretched but it's not necessary usually and if they find A levels hard then three good grades are better than four lesser grades.

Coconutspongexo · 05/08/2017 09:33

bert I completely forgot it was mumsnet some of the children probably don't need to attend the lessons either but will surpass thd others Grin

CycleHire · 05/08/2017 09:36

Many years ago but my friend did chemistry, biology, maths and physics at A Level. She didn't have many free periods. She got all As and went to Cambridge to study veterinary science . She was and is very clever though!

Stillwishihadabs · 05/08/2017 09:38

Back in the dark ages I did A levels in chemistry, physics, biology and AS maths- got AABB ( before A*) I also had a ft boyfriend, attended drama classes (and did lots of shows) and worked every Saturday morning in a nursing home. 16-18 year olds are resilient, totally doable IMO.

VeryPunny · 05/08/2017 09:44

I did Maths, Physics, Chemistry and French in the 1990's with no great bother and got straight As. Did help that I had done additional Maths as a GCSC which basically covers a good chunk of the A level maths syllabus.

llangennith · 05/08/2017 09:56

If he's incredibly clever, extremely organised and works very hard he should cope. He'll soon know if the workload is too much for him and, if so, think about dropping one subject.

BertrandRussell · 05/08/2017 10:13

I do wish people would stop thinking that their 20 year old personal experience is even remotely relevant to people taking A levels today!

Or, in fact that any anecdote about education 20 years ago is of anything except historical interest to people dealing with the system as it is today.

sendsummer · 05/08/2017 10:30

Bertrand I think 'vintage' experience from more than 20 years ago
(O' level / A level era) may come into its own here as it is more akin to the workload challenge of four new style A levels than recent experience with modular A levels from the last 5 years.

Quetzalcoatl777 · 05/08/2017 10:35

DS3 is doing 5 A levels ( three languages, maths and history)

He finished Spanish this year L6 and will carry on with the others next year.

Depends on the individual. Do they enjoy the subjects?

teta · 05/08/2017 10:48

Actually studying Biology A level made no difference to your ability to do this years A level Aqa Biology - paper 1.Even with a text book in the exam it wouldn't have helped.
Dd has just completed her A levels.They were advised to do three apart from Oxbridge candidates.They also did Epq and Creat awards .Dd had 11 gcse 8 A*3A in hard academic subjects , so no dummy.
One - Maths was predictable due to the old modular system.The other two - Biology and Chemistry were not as they were the new exams.Biology in particular was a major curve ball as was one of the Chemistry papers.
There is absolutely no use in comparing experiences years ago to today's exams.The two sciences involved much more application of knowledge which in itself is no bad thing.However it's a step up for teachers and pupils and it will probably be far tougher to achieve higher grades.

CauliflowerSqueeze · 05/08/2017 11:59

My child did 45,559 a levels and got A* in them all.

Coconutspongexo · 05/08/2017 12:26

Cauli it doesn't count if she revised!

errorofjudgement · 05/08/2017 12:26

Grin @CauliflowerSqueeze

CauliflowerSqueeze · 05/08/2017 13:46

She didn't revise. She was only 12.
But how can I get her to enjoy kale???

noblegiraffe · 05/08/2017 15:36

Teen he emailed me after FP1 to say he didn't think he'd passed it, he didn't do a mock for that one so no idea whether his assessment of his performance was realistic. His work for C1 and C2 was so beautiful though. Definitely an outlier, that one.

Crumbs1 · 05/08/2017 15:37

Mine all love Kale tempura.

BertrandRussell · 05/08/2017 16:38

Ah yes, tempura. Middle class deep fried mars bars..........

eyebrowsonfleek · 05/08/2017 16:58

My son hasn't a clue about degree subjects. He picked biology because he enjoys it (and gets good grades in it) and has picked chemistry and maths as they are needed to access degree level science courses (and he's pretty interested/good at them) He hates essay based subjects so I think that his choices are smart for someone who'll do something sciencey at university.

As his fourth he'll do physics or computer science but this depends on results.

Crumbs1 · 05/08/2017 17:11

Deep fried mars bars? Absolutely not! We live in the South East so the tempura Kale has a dipping sauce made with freshly grated wasabi.

Coconutspongexo · 05/08/2017 17:23

Eyebrows they are smart choices for science based subjects but I hope your son realises there will still be a lot of essays in uni even with a science based subject.

MsAwesomeDragon · 05/08/2017 18:29

Dipping, not necessarily. I did a degree in maths and computing, I didn't write a single essay. I learnt how to solve really hard maths problems and how to write computer software, but didn't ever write an essay. Some sciences will require essays to be written, others won't.

eyebrowsonfleek · 05/08/2017 20:21

He's had to write for controlled assessments in science/computer science and seems to be able to score good marks on science test questions that require explaining.

goodbyestranger · 06/08/2017 10:59

DS1 did A2s in History, Biology, Chemistry, Maths also General Studies and an EPQ and din't appear to do any more work than his siblings who didn't take the fourth A2 subject but he's a very calm customer. He also worked part time throughout (each weekend and more in the holidays) and had a very good social life. I think it was quite good practice for uni (he's an Oxford medic). I really do think it's totally dependent on the individual. And yes, he did get A* across the board.